We all know Carrie Fisher, and since her recent passing, there are ever increasing video clips and interviews online to watch. We all know Princess Leia Organa, leader of the Rebel Alliance and heroine of the Star Wars franchise. The Princess Diarist is their memoir of shooting the first Star Wars film, her nineteen year old insecurities, and life as a reluctant pop culture icon.
After a dual audition for both Star Wars and Carrie, she won the role of Leia and was flown over to England economy class, paid $500 a week and signed away her likeness for all merchandising rights. This was 1976 and a low budget fantasy film was not expected to become the enduring hit it did. She talks about the creation of the hairstyle, learning on the job, and being the only girl on set. The middle section describes her affair with Harrison Ford, married at the time. She includes the actual pages from her diary, which apart from kudos for putting it all out there, are rather dull. The last section is about the continuing popularity of Leia/Carrie as she returns for sequels and joins the ComicCon circuit.
Aside from some interesting tidbits about filming in 1976, this is a very light memoir, laced with witty asides. I read it in one sitting. Carrie was known as a go-to script doctor in Hollywood over the years, rescuing many films, as well as a popular writer of several novels. If you are a Star Wars fan, this memoir offers a brief glimpse into that time of her life, although I think she became unduly critical of her fans. If you want to know Carrie, read Postcards From The Edge - her autobiographical novel about a young washed up actress dealing with a drug addiction and an overbearing show business mother. This first bestselling book was turned into a hit movie. There is more about the real Carrie in that fiction than there is in this reminiscence of her youth.
2016 / Hardcover / 257 pages
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